Abstract
Nanocarbon materials such as carbon nanotubes are well known for their superior performances in thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties. The purpose of this study is to prepare new asphalt composites improved by adding nanocarbons and to find new features that reflect the characteristics of nanocarbons in the asphalt composites. Such composites were prepared using several types of asphalt emulsions as a source of asphalt. Both nonionic and anionic emulsions maintained dispersed state well, when combined with nanocarbons. Cationic emulsion, however, failed to keep dispersed state. After several systematic experiments, it was found that cationic emulsion also succeeded in maintaining well-dispersed state, when combined with acid solution-pretreated nanocarbons. Asphalt-nanocarbons composites showed higher performances in both penetration and microwave-absorption tests than asphalt composites including carbon black powder instead of nanocarbons, when the mass percentage of both carbon materials was the same.
